Sunday, January 02, 2011

Something to shoot for.....

While it wasn't a first, it still may have qualified as somewhat unique. On 1/1/11, at 1:11 P.M., a judge performed a swearing in ceremony for 2 other officials. One of the things that made it unique is that the judge was an elected Libertarian, and the officials that were sworn in were elected Libertarians. Susan Bell became the first elected Libertarian judge ever in Indiana in 2003 when she was elected to the Hagerstown Town Court. She was re-elected in 2007. On January 1st, at the Hagerstown City Building, two more recently elected Libertarians stopped by to repeat the oath of office. Steve Coffman was re-elected to the Liberty Township Advisory Board in the 2010 election, and Cheryl Heacox was elected to the Clay Township Advisory Board.

This was only the second time this has happened. The first time was January 1st, 2007, when Susan administered the oath to two newly elected Libertarian officeholders.

One of things that gives me hope is that shortly after Susan was elected as a Libertarian, the legislature proposed legislation that would effectively eliminate town courts. And shortly after Conley Tillson and Steve Coffman were elected to their respective township advisory boards, the legislature proposed legislation that would eliminate township advisory boards.

I figure if we keep electing Libertarians, the legislature will keep eliminating government.

3 Comments:

Probably, but we have discovered that just talking doesn't accomplish much. Besides, the problem isn't actually too many courts, but too many laws. Those need to be eliminated at the legislative level, which requires electing legislative candidates.

Certainly if we reduce the number of laws, another residual benefit of electing Libertarians would be the need for fewer courts.

Actually, I wasn't referring to just talking. Down here all four of the local municipalities have discussed whether or not to keep their courts. Two have eliminated them. And there were no libertarians involved.

I agree that there are too many laws and since many of them are local ordinances, waiting for a state legislature to act is unnecessary. A libertarian judge could actively point out the ones that are not libertarian.

We'd know more about the need for courts if we didn't have a government monopoly on the service.

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About Me

I'm the chairman of the Libertarian Party of Wayne County. I've been married for 40 years to the only elected Libertarian judge in Indiana. We are the parents of three grown children and the grandparents of five beautiful granddaughters and two grandsons.
I enjoy writing about some of my experiences, and I hope somebody enjoys reading it.